Day Ten – A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving

The Hunt for Red October. My stepdad was (is) a fan of Tom Clancy’s, and seeing how much he’d read and enjoyed Clancy’s novels made me curious. I really didn’t think I’d like a spy/military story, but much to my surprise, I did. I then went on to read Patriot Games, The Cardinal of the Kremlin, and Clear and Present Danger. And then sometime later, I read Rainbow Six, and it was cliché and stilted enough that I decided not to back to Clancy’s writing for a while. Funny that the one I liked the least has spawned a franchise of games and ghost-written tie-ins.

5 Responses to Reading Meme – Day Ten

is it bad that I didn’t read and love The Hunt for Red October until after I’d seen the movie about 10 times (granted, the first time I saw the movie I was about 10, a little too young for the book!)?

my unexpected book love is Robin Hobb’s Assassin’s Apprentice. It had all the cliche’s of a fantasy I wasn’t going to like: the word “Assassin” in the title, embarrassingly bad cover art, coming of age cheesefest, a bastard child, magic that people don’t really understand, mysterious badguys. . . omg, does it get anymore cliche?

and now I am a Robin Hobb addict!!!! One of the best fantasy novels I have ever read!

I never saw Affleck’s stint as Ryan, but yes, I love the earlier movies. The Hunt For Red October is my favorite of the films (it may or may not have anything to do with Sean Connery), even if Harrison Ford hadn’t been cast as Jack Ryan in that one. Alec Baldwin does a good job as Ryan, and I wouldn’t have been upset if he’d continued the role in Patriot Games and Clear & Present Danger.

If you read Jack as president, it was probably Debt of Honor or The Bear and the Dragon…neither of which I read. I didn’t learn about them until after I read Rainbow Six, which is the novel that turned me off of Clancy’s writing. If you’re in the mood for something non SFF and action-packed, I really do recommend the earlier Clancy/Jack Ryan novels. Also, Robert Ludlum. I like the Bourne movies, but I think the novels they’re based on are better.